


Cracked

by Dongus57



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Maybe angst, Side TomEdd, maybe smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-25 13:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18575812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dongus57/pseuds/Dongus57
Summary: It was just a random night with two strangers that met at a bar. What could possibly form from that?





	1. Prologue

Loud music bounced off the walls and in my ears as I entered the bar. My head hurt already, but I wasn’t here because I was smart. I walked to the bar counter, sitting on a barstool. Sighing, I asked for a shot, which they gave me quickly.

Drunk people danced around me, the smell of alcohol very potent and the warmth of the air strong, seeming to already be influencing me. After a moment’s hesitation, I took the shot, feeling the burn going to my stomach.

I wasn’t an alcoholic. I just had a particularly bad day today. As I let myself digest the first shot- the first of many I expected, someone sat beside me. My gaze caught the bright orange color of someone’s hair.

Turning my head, I saw what looked to be a male model. No, not because he was attractive. He was literally wearing the most expensive outfit I’ve ever seen, He seemed to have been crying; eyes red and puffy, mascara-colored tear streaks staining his cheeks, blotchy and pale skin… he still looked rather upset to be fair.

He asked for a shot as well, his fingers daintily feeling across the wood of the bar counter as he waited. His voice was rather capturing and I found myself taking in the sight that was this man.

Besides his unique, bright orange hair, he had two colored eyes; one blue and one green, freckles adorning his pale skin, perfect pink lips- not too thin either, stunningly manicured nails- he looked a person sent from heaven.

After he took his shot, seemed to realize my staring and turned to me, shooting me a questioning glare. I blinked and stopped staring, trying to form words and strike a conversation; get to know him more. He was rather intriguing- both his aura and his looks.

“Hey!” I greeted over the unbearably loud music. “The name’s Tord! Tord Lavik!” I held my hand out for him to shake. He seemed hesitant, his fingers rubbing the inside of his palm. A nervous habit, I assumed.

After a minute or two, I felt his skin in my hand-not a callus felt- giving me a gentle shake. “Matthew Howard!”


	2. Water

I yawned, burying my face into my pillow. I had a splitting headache and I felt so sore. My arms wrapped around someone, which I was comfortable with. My throat felt sore and I had this salty flavor on my tongue, and I felt sticky and gross. “Baby, what happened last night?” I mumbled.

“I don’t know,” a recognizable but unfamiliar, quiet voice answered. My eyes opened in alarm, feeling something was wrong. Something was wrong. My “pillow” was actually a bare, freckled chest. A male’s bare freckled chest.

With a yelp, I jumped away, ending up on the floor with a groan of pain. My ass hurt. A lot. The blanket came flying after me, caught on my leg. “Who are you?!” I exclaimed, removing the blanket from my face to reveal my bewildered expression. Looking down, I realized I wasn’t wearing any clothes and worked to cover myself. 

My gaze snapped back to the other and noticed he was as bare as I. My face burned red in utter humiliation, covering my eyes. “Why are we completely naked?!” My heart pounded with panic, both hands to my face as I tried to remember what had happened last night.

I remembered the color orange. That detail was so vague. Looking up at the other, my eyes were drawn to his ginger hair. Ah. 

As I continued to examine the ginger, I started remembering more. “Where are we?” he asked as our eyes met, his mismatched orbs shrunken in panic. He sounded calm, but I had to realize that he was just as scared- if not more- than I was.  He covered himself with a nearby pillow, hugging it with both his legs and arms as he tried to stay calm. “I can’t remember anything…”

The faint scent of alcohol reminded me we had been at a bar. So he must not drink often or had never had alcohol. With his looks, that was to be expected. “Who are you?”

After a few moments of uneven, panicked breathing, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, calming myself. I held my jaw, thinking. “Matt was it?” I asked, remembering shortly after thinking patiently. He nodded, his eyes sparkling with fearful tears. “Firstly, can you help me back up?”

He hesitated before nodding, He maneuvered himself to the edge of the bed carefully, not wanting to uncover himself, which I respected. The freckled male put his hands under my arms and lifted me back onto the bed. I quickly fixed the blanket back to its initial position over my wait.

“Thank you.” He nodded in response. “Now, I want you to calm down and try to remember anything you can,” I instructed gently, putting my hands to his shoulders. I noted the bite marks.

Matt stared into my eyes thoughtfully, fiddling with the ends of the pillows with his delicate fingers… damn, I wish we had been sober for all of the fun. “Well,” the ginger started, “I remember that we had introduced ourselves and started getting to know each other… drinking while doing so. We… told each other why we were even at the bar, which I can’t remember now….”

I started to remember as well, my eyes widening in realization as my memories came back. “I remember that!” We had taken shot after shot, telling each other things as our worlds began to melt. After a little thinking, there was also little voice parts and holes in my memory. “Then we had gone somewhere else to talk since we couldn’t hear each other over everything… we found an empty bathroom…. We’re on the floor talking, drunkenness and all….”

I paused, remembering another bit, turning a little red. From the way Matt blushed, I bet he remembered too. “That’s where all of this started…. I guess we had planned on going home, but got distracted by more drinks and instead found a hotel and… yeah.”

Matt was hiding his face. “This is so humiliating,” he mumbled rubbing his temples.

“Hey, I know I’m not the best, but-”

“No, not that,” he interrupted, looking up at me. “I get fired from my job, my boyfriend broke up with me, I got drunk, I had sex with a complete stranger… I’ve hit rock bottom.” He sighed and wiped his face. 

My hands still rested on his shoulders as I looked at the ginger with sympathy. I understood him a bit. I thought for a moment before gently squeezing his shoulders. He looked up at me, looking distraught. I grinned softly at him.

”Y’know, there’s only one way to go after hitting rock bottom, and I say that from experience.” I laughed after a moment. “At least you can stand and do something about it. You don’t have a pain up your ass.”

Matt stopped and thought about it before giggling a small bit, cheeks a faint red. “I guess you’re right!” he said with a smile, a determined and lively tone in his voice. “Sorry about….”

“Don’t worry. We were both under influence. We should get cleaned up, though,” I added pointedly. I felt disgusting and my hair felt like a mess, not to mention my mechanical arm had a few white spots on it that would hopefully come off easily. 

“Yeah.”

 

***

 

Matt was in the shower now while I worked on cleaning my arm, which I had taken off just for that purpose. I sighed as I worked the white spots off, shining the mechanical arm. I still hated the fact I had lost my actual arm. Unlike last night, that day was still vivid in my mind. What do you expect? When you lose a body part, it’s not likely to be forgotten that easily.

I hadn’t noticed I had stopped cleaning until I heard the bathroom door open, revealing Matt dressed and drying his hair. I was still only covering my bottom half, this time with a towel.

The ginger blinked his eyes and looked at me, lowering his towel to his chest. “I didn’t realize you could remove your arm as well,” he said quietly, walking over and sitting down beside me. “That’s really cool….” I blushed a light pink as I continued to work on cleaning. “Sorry about making it all gross and all.”

“Thanks, and it’s fine,” I reassured. “It’s my own fault anyway. Drunk me is a little messy and such.” It was quiet as I sighed and threw the cloth to my dirty clothes. 

“What was your name again?” Matt asked. “It has nothing to do with the alcohol. I just have a bad memory.” I chuckled a bit, nodding in understanding.

“Tord Lavik. Yours?”

“Matthew Howard. Though, I guess you would just call me Matt.” He flushed a darker color as he spoke. “A-anyway, since you know why I was so upset last night, I’m curious why you were too.”

I pursed my lips as I thought about it, averting my gaze to a close wall… which looked pretty gross right now. I grabbed a few napkins before I started speaking, beginning to wipe the walls off. “Well, my girlfriend broke up with me last night- never told me why- and my business is going downhill at the moment. After the explosion that took my arm, people started avoiding the place,” I explained. “Life never seems to go my way anyway,” I added with a sigh. 

Once I was done wiping the walls off, I threw the napkins away. Then I put my arm back in place, rolling my sleeve over it. “We should probably get going.” Matt handed me my clothes, a concerned expression on his face. I took my clothes and started with my shirt.

“So… will we see each other again?” I asked, getting a surprised look from the ginger. “I mean, we don’t have to,” I added as I discreetly put my boxers on underneath the towel. “I just think it would be a better idea than having a one night stand and acting like we don’t know each other.” I shrugged nonchalantly, putting my jeans on after removing the towel.

Matt blinked before smiling a little. “Then we definitely will,” he said with a bright look in his mismatched eyes. “Maybe I’ll get to know you better than just physically.”

I chuckled a little, pulling my socks and shoes on. “Good. I actually have a few people I’d love for you to meet.”


	3. Say You Won't Let Go

Tord sighed as he drove home, one hand gripping the wheel and the other holding his head up against the edge of his door frame, slightly pressed up against the window. He had dropped Matt off at a hotel for the night since the other had had nowhere else to go. Matt had asked him to ask my roommates if he could stay with us.

He was hoping so, wanting to see the other’s face each morning. Even if they didn’t end up being a couple, it would be nice to see him all of the time… with the tantalizing regret of never trying with him. 

Tord shook his head, tapping his finger against the wheel as he listened to some music and waited for the traffic to pick up. The honking of horns was distant, the sound of the radio blocking most of the sound. Guess he has some time to think about everything that had happened.

He had had a one night stand with the most perfect man in the universe, even if he had called himself straight until that very moment. It was odd really, to call it a one night stand. Tord wanted to call it something else, something more, but he had no idea what he would even call it since they hadn’t agreed on anything.

To believe that this all started because of a huge coincidence of them breaking up with their old lovers. To think that this was his ex-girlfriend’s fault. The first thing that he had gotten from his girlfriend that had actually been good, now that he was thinking about it. She thought he would miss her, he thought he would miss her. That was a lie.

Tord started thinking of a certain another person; Matt, of course. His wavy, strawberry blonde locks- Matt’s words, not Tord’s, his mismatched eyes- one emerald green and the other as blue as the ocean, little hints of green in it. His flawless, vanilla-colored skin adorned by light freckles, the perfect manicure of his nails, painted over in a lavender purple, tickle-me-pink colored lips, how soft they looked...

How had Tord never seen this man before? How had he only just now fallen head over heels for another man? That should’ve happened  _ years _ ago. More importantly, why couldn’t he have been sober for the fun stuff?

Tord sighed, finding himself biting his slightly chapped lip between his teeth. How long had he been daydreaming? He looked ahead. Not long. The cars had barely moved. He sighed and went back to thinking.

What would it be like to date another man? Would it be as fulfilling as he hoped it would be, or perhaps just enough? He wanted to melt in Matt’s arms, stay in them forever. They looked a bit thin, not too much muscle, but they looked like they could protect him from any nightmare or horrible memory. He would love to cuddle up to the other, press his face against the other’s chest, listen to his calming heartbeat.

Maybe they would chat softly about little things, tell each other about their days. Maybe they would tell stories to one another, laugh at the fun parts and cry at the sad parts. Maybe they would take turns reading a page from a book they picked out together, laughing together if they messed up on words or cry at the sad parts. Maybe they would watch a movie together, take in each other’s presences and compare their lives to the characters’. 

This all sounded like it was coming out of a fanfiction- Tord definitely knew what those were- as a fantasy almost, and it was… but Tord wanted that. He wanted to feel happy with someone instead of bossed around by the person he dated. With Matt, it seemed like those wishes were coming true. It seemed he could live happily ever after, just like those princesses in Walt Disney’s stories. He felt wanted for something, needed for once. It was nice.

Tord was jolted from his thoughts by honks and shouts at him. Shit, he had been out too long. The cars were far ahead of him. With a sigh, he starting driving again. Why had he had to go to the farthest bar away from the house?

At least it had been worth it.

 

***

 

Matt sighed as he stepped into the hotel room. The smell of the last people in here was strong over the cheap air freshener. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Then he sighed. He was going to have to deal with it for a while. He wasn’t used to how cheap these rooms were, but he could deal with it.

The strawberry blond male plopped onto the probably stained sheets of the bed. He couldn’t care less, however. With a sigh, he rested his head on the pillow. He pulled his phone out, starting to stare at the screen. Old texts from his boyfriend, old texts from his boss, old texts from old friends… all they had ever said was how pretty he was.

At first, Matt loved the compliments about his appearance, but after a while, he had grown used to it and it held no meaning to him. He responded with “I know” instead of “Thank you,” giving the impression that he was just  _ that  _ conceited. Yet they continued to tell him about his appearance, everything he already knew.

He grew bored with the lack of interest these people seemed to have. He had quit his job as a model, blocked all of his friends on social media, broken up with his boyfriend. Doing that all at once had hurt him and he had gone to do something new; drink alcohol. Get drunk, let his body free, do something stupid.

Well… he hadn’t disappointed himself. Now he had to figure out if he was going to try dating the one-armed man. He smiled to himself. All he had were positive thoughts for the other man.

Tord was kind and had helped him in a time of need, his eyes showed nothing but sympathy and for once, Matt felt like he knew someone, even if he didn’t.

Matt smiled as he put in the number Tord had written on his wrist earlier. It had been a few hours now, but the ink was still relatively readable. Then he texted a simple “hey” to this number, ready for this little journey to begin.


End file.
